The Clay Pit | Hauntings of the Bertram Building

Posted: 02.05.2021 | Updated: 03.06.2025

The Clay Pit is renowned for serving up the best Indian food in Austin. But that’s not the only thing that attracts customers. The Clay Pit is located within the historic Bertram Building, a known haunted hotspot.

The building, only a few blocks from the State Capitol, was originally a trading outpost for Native Americans. Founded by German immigrant Rudolph Bertram, over time, it grew into a grocery, general store, and saloon.

A network of underground tunnels beneath the building once led brothels. Rumor has it that one tunnel even leads to the State Capitol building.

Quite a few ghosts inhabit the Clay Pit because of this strange past. Bertram’s young son and the spirit of a murdered prostitute are among the many lost souls here. Restaurant patrons and staff occasionally hear the old saloon’s sounds coming from the second floor.

Do you dare investigate the Austin tunnels? Join Austin Ghosts on an Austin ghost tour as we tell you about what lurks above and below ground in Texas’ capital.

Is The Clay Pit The Best Haunted Indian Restuarant in Austin?

As the only haunted indian restaurant in Austin it is easy to say that the Clay Pit is the best place for food and frights. The popular restaurants operates in the skeleton of the 19th-century Betram Building. Beneath are the Austin tunnels where high-class men were once smuggled between brothels.

Is it any wonder The Clay Pit is Austin’s most famous haunted restaurant?

Rudolph Bertram & the Bertram Building

Rudolph Bertram was one of Austin’s early pioneers, moving to the city just after it became the capital of Texas. He was attracted to the city because of the rapid population growth and bustling economy.

Earning his money by working the ranches, he saved up enough to build the Bertram Building. The building functioned as a grocer and general store, supplying all the basic necessities a farmer needed; seeds, farm tools, hardware, household supplies, furniture, groceries, and, of course, whiskey.

Bertram’s store was also one of the few trading posts where ousted Native American chieftains could barter with the white man.

Bertram met Bertha Krone, another German immigrant, as his business was prospering. The two got married and had eight children. In need of space for his growing family, Bertram had a second floor added to the building, which served as the living space.

While the Bertrams seemed like a big happy family, five out of eight Bertram children died within a few years of each other. Two died of an unknown epidemic, and two more from Diphtheria. Then, one of the children contracted typhoid and was quarantined alone in his room. He, too, died of his illness.

Austin’s Underground Tunnels, Secret Brothels, and Hidden Gold

As Rudolph Bertram grew older, he became one of Austin’s largest bondholders. He sponsored the railroads that lead out of the city, even having the town of Bertram named after him.

The Bertram Building was in a neighborhood of Austin that was known for a high density of brothels called Guytown. It’s even theorized that Guytown was among the largest red-light districts in the Southwest.

The Bertram Building had its fair share of brothels. Clients were often well-known, usually politicians, people in business, and entrepreneurs. An underground network of tunnels leading to other bars and brothels kept these men of higher status from being seen.

The tunnels had other functions as well. The Bertram Building had an underground wine cellar which was used to store molasses, gunpowder, and whiskey. The Texas State Treasury also used Bertram’s storage to hide the state’s gold supply in the wine cellar.

A highly secret underground tunnel was dug from the Bertam Building to the State Capitol. The gold bars were moved to and from the Texas State Capitol Building whenever they needed to be stored safely.

In the 1940s, the Bertram Building began to be used as a restaurant. The Old Madrid Cafe was the first to occupy the Bertram Building. Then came the Old Seville, then the Old Toro, which was popular with UT students in the 50s and 60s.

The Red Tomato Italian Restaurant took over in 1977. Finally, the Clay Pit came next. Today it is known for serving some of the best Indian food in Austin.

The Haunted Clay Pit

It is rumored that a prostitute known as the “Scarlet Lady” was murdered in the basement, strangled to death by an unknown john. Being a prostitute, no one cared to solve her murder. The man who killed her walked off Scott-free, having gotten away with the crime. Longing for some form of redemption or revenge, her ghost lives on.

The staff of the Indian restaurant in Austin encounter the Scarlet Lady often. The basement is a common place for employees to take a break. Employees who fall asleep while on break are often awoken by the ghost of the Scarlet Lady whispering into their ears. Others feel a breath down their neck or her hand on their shoulder.

The Bombay Room and the Ghost of Bertram’s Son

The Bertram family lost five children to various diseases and illnesses. The last of which died of typhoid fever. His ghost now roams around the Clay Pit.

The child died on the second floor, which is where his apparition is most commonly seen. He was quarantined in what is now called the Bombay Room, where the Clay Pit hosts private parties and banquets.

One employee was closing up the Bombay Room for the night, and upon leaving, saw the little boy peeking his head around the corner and waving. The startled employee did a double-take, but the boy disappeared.

Staff cleaning the room often report feelings of being watched, sometimes by multiple people. Some employees can’t take it; the feeling is nerve-wracking, and induces deep feelings of dread in some individuals.

The employees don’t believe that the omnipresent feeling is from the little boy, who seems more playful, but a very intimidating male figure that could be Mr. Bertram himself.

On multiple occasions, some employees have seen apparitions of groups of people dressed in all black entering the room, possibly a funeral procession for the young boy.

Though he hangs out in the Bombay Room, wait staff have seen the boy all over the restaurant. There are reports of employees feeling the boy hold their hand, looking to be comforted.

Haunted Austin

The capital of the Lone Star State is a ghost-lovers paradise. Austin’s haunted indian restaurants and decades old buildings all have a story to tell. Those living in the afterlife would find many a haunted home in the city of live music. Learn more about Austin’s haunted history! Have a picnic on the beautiful lawn of Austin State Hospital or take a drive down Demon’s Road to experience it yourself.

Don’t feel like venturing that far from the hotel? Join Austin Ghosts on an Austin ghost tour to hear about the city’s most chilling ghost stories in the heart of downtown.

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 Sources:

• https://whatwasthen.blogspot.com/2011/08/bertram-building.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp-5OYxf0gk
• https://claypit.com/
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65280260/rudolph-bertram
• https://ghosttexas.com/clay-pit-holds-a-darker-reputation-as-being-haunted/